Israel Adesanya has made a statement about his next fight in the UFC

Former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, who put his career on pause following his loss to Sean Strickland, will be out of the octagon longer than many may have expected.

According to the Nigerian, his next UFC fight won’t be until 2027 at the earliest.

“I’m getting so many messages and I want to say I’m not dead, I’m not retiring,” Adesanya told The MacLife. “Calm down, I’m alive. I will be back in 2027. I’ll see you then.”

On Sept. 9 at UFC 293 in Sydney, Israel Adesanya suffered a sensational five-round unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland to lose his UFC middleweight championship belt. Prior to that, the Nigerian fighter had two fights against Alex Pereira, first losing to the Brazilian by TKO in the fifth round and then knocking him out in the rematch.

Adesanya is currently in Saudi Arabia with his friend Francis Ngannou, who is scheduled to share the ring with current world boxing champion Tyson Fury today.

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